Absolute Generality

by Agustín Rayo (Editor), Gabriel Uzquiano Cruz (Editor)

Is it possible to quantify over absolutely all there is? Or must all of our quantifiers range over a less-than-all-inclusive domain? It has commonly been thought that the question of absolute generality is intimately connected with the set-theoretic antinomies. But the topic of absolute generality has enjoyed a surge of interest in recent years. It has become increasingly apparent that its ramifications extend well beyond the foundations of set theory. Connections include semantic indeterminacy, logical consequence, higher-order languages, and metaphysics. Rayo and Uzquiano present for the first time a collection of essays on absolute generality. These newly commissioned articles - written by an impressive array of international scholars - draw the reader into the forefront of contemporary research on the subject. The volume represents a variety of approaches to the problem, with some of the contributions arguing for the possibility of all-inclusive quantification and some of them arguing against it. An introduction by the editors draws a helpful map of the philosophical terrain.

Genres: Philosophy

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 18, 2006

Reviews

[Cain S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the essays are excellent, and some not so much. The essay by Rayo himself is excellent, and the book does a great job at unpacking the tractability of logical analysis from the perspective of absolutely generality. The editors themselves believe the very question to be in favour of the thesis that it is possible to achieve absolute generality, but they treat the contrary view fairly, and draw cautionary morals about the consequences of absolutely unrestricted quantification variously construed, and logical pluralism, for the view that absolutely generality of thought is impossible.